Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Enlightenment

Submission + - Producing Supermassive Contrails at 35,000-ft Plus

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Producing Supermassive Contrails at 35,000 Feet — Plus

Isn't this picture of a Boeing 747-206B (KLM Flight 9165) jet flying at 35,000 feet a beauty? It was taken by photographer and pilot Josef P. Willems on 21 May 2002 from 36,000 feet. But why are the contrails "supermassive"? In a very interesting comment EridanMan, a member at Digg.com, writes in part the "aircraft, in this case, is just a massive catalyst..where a 'typical' contrail is composed of simply the H20 created in the cumbustors, a super-saturated-contrail contains that plus tons of ambient H20 in the air that is simply 'waiting' for any excuse to become solid. Hence, ALL air which contacts the aircraft, forms a cloud, not simply the air that runs through the combustors....The result are these super thick, long-lived contrails, which some, ignorant of the basic laws of chemistry and physics, mistakenly believe to be somehow nefarious."

But what about the "Plus" in the title? For the answer look at this beautiful and even more incredible photo, shot over Alaska, USA, by USAF Staff Sgt. Kevin L. Bishop on 1 August 1989, of contrails created by four fighter jets — specifically USAF F-15 Eagle fighters intercepting Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 jet fighters (the photo's via has additional pictures and the fascinating story). It appears these fighter jets are flying well over 35,000 feet, possibly closer to 50,000 feet above Earth.

Vortices, says EridanMan while observing that the Boeing 747 contrails also show lift-induced vortexes, "are truly beautiful (and dangerous) artifacts of simple fluid dynamics. Pilots...Just think about this picture [Boeing 747-206B, KLM Flight 9165] next time you hear 'caution, wake turbulence...' and give it the respect it deserves;)"
Security

Submission + - Break a Security Product Beta and Win Prizes

Submitted by Ivan_Simic
Ivan_Simic writes: Slashdot reported last year on a BitDefender contest and this year they're doing it again by inviting the public to test BitDefender Total Security 2008. Among the prizes to be awarded to the most thorough beta testers will be three gaming consoles including a Sony Playstation 3, a Microsoft Xbox360 and a Nintendo Wii. Other prizes include a Nokia N90 device, 30 PC games (either World of Warcraft or Command & Conquer 3), as well as free licenses for BitDefender's 2008 consumer product line. Are you up for the challenge?
Microsoft

Submission + - ANSI receiving spam letters pro MS's Open XML

Submitted by omz
omz writes: this site reports that ANSI is publishing on a day to day basis all the comments received on the proposed OOXML specification. All the messages looks like this. But some submitters identifies the source of the spam: "Even though this is a form letter from Microsoft I thought I would add this personal touch..." Rob Weir's advice about "support form letters": [i]f you want to provide input into this process [...d]on't send in a form letter. It hurts your cause more than helps it, since it makes it look like you couldn't get real support if you tried.
Google

Google Spends Money to Jump-Start Hybrid Car Development 352

Posted by Zonk from the to-the-googmobile dept.
slugo writes "Internet search giant Google (GOOG) hopes to speed the development of plug-in hybrid cars by giving away millions of dollars to people and companies that have what appear to be practical ways to get plug-in hybrid automobiles to market faster. 'While many people don't associate Google with energy, analysts say the fit isn't all that unnatural. Renewable energy, unlike coal or nuclear, will likely come from thousands or tens of thousands of different locations. Analysts have long said that one of the big challenges will be managing that flow into and out of the nation's electric grid, and that companies that manage the flow of information are well placed to handle that task.'"
Printer

Submission + - Linux DDK to encourage one driver for all printers

Submitted by
LiquidNitrogen
LiquidNitrogen writes: "Cacheyourcash points out the news on desktoplinux.com that quotes as following:
The Linux Foundation last week announced the free availability of the Linux Standard Base Driver Development Kit for print drivers. The DDK provides the tools and resources for printing manufacturers to easily support all Linux distributions with one driver package, greatly reducing the time and effort needed to support Linux, a foundation spokesperson said.
You can download the new DDK here"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft to alter Vista to address search concern (com.com)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "Microsoft plans to make changes to Windows Vista to try to assuage concerns from Google that its desktop search product is disadvantaged by the operating system, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified source. Google complained about Vista's desktop search arrangement more than a year ago, but the issue has come back into the forefront in recent weeks, with the Connecticut Attorney General saying he would look into the matter."
Printer

Submission + - InkJet Printers lying, or mistaken? (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by akkarin
akkarin writes: An interesting 'study' (how scientific, I wonder?), is calling InkJet Printers "filthy, lying thieves".
They claim that even the most advanced printers misinform their users of their ink levels, which is wasting 100s of pages worth of ink. From the article:


A new study says that on average, more than half of the ink from inkjet cartridges is wasted when users toss them in the garbage. Why is that interesting? According to the study, users are tossing the cartridges when their printers are telling them they're out of ink, not when they necessarily are out of ink.
Hype, or truth? http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070618-stud y-inkjet-printers-are-filthy-lying-thieves.html
The Internet

Submission + - Tetzschner sacked all boardmembers at Opera

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to the norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv Jon Tetzchner has sacked all boardmembers of Opera Software to avoid being sacked himself. Stockholders have reportedly been unhappy about the company's deficit and the fact that Opera's stock have gone down more than 60% since March 2006 (although they climbed up a bit in the last week). The board reportedly wanted to sack Tetzchner and hire a new CEO because of this, so Tetzchner sacked the boardmembers with the aid of a few other stockholders (Tetzchner owns 15% of the Opera stock).
Networking

Submission + - Server naming conventions: Cold logic vs Star Trek (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Ian Lamont
Ian Lamont writes: "There's an interesting debate about server and terminal naming conventions that brings up some of the pros and cons of using mundane vs. exotic names. People have submitted funny and/or obscure examples (Star Trek and LOTR characters, Nixon cabinet members, etc.). However, these can get old, or are inconvenient. Everyone has seen environments that are based on Greco-Roman mythology (Perseus, Zeus, Dionysus, etc.) — spelling them out can be a problem, not to mention finding specific applications and helping out new hires (or your replacement) deal with unfamiliar systems. The alternative is "logically (and yawningly)" naming servers after departments, building locations, applications, etc. That approach has its problems, too — including users who have their own ideas about what names should be used. What do the experts say? Pierre Dumoulin, writing for Tech Republic, warns against using Star Trek or the Smurfs — he recommends a 'proper' and logical naming convention that can make it easier to troubleshoot, conduct inventory, and scale the network. As an example for a large company, he suggests "DDCCSSUPOXXXX", which lists Division (D) — Country (C) — Site (S) — Usage Type (U) — Portability (P) — Operating Environment (O) — Numbering Scheme (XXXX):

I personally like this convention because it provides me with a lot of information I want to know about a computer on a routine basis. Also, once the meaning of the different acronyms has been assimilated by support staff, they can translate the computer name very easily into a meaningful sentence. One example, using this convention, would be: "Manufacturing desktop computer located in Boston, U.S.A. used for production office work" while the actual name of the computer might be something like "MAUSBOODP0001" or "Research laptop computer located in London, England used for testing in a lab environment" for a node name like "RDENLDLLT0001".
"
Censorship

Submission + - Kids can't hug anymore (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: VIENNA, Virginia (AP) — A show of affection almost landed a teenage boy in detention.

Hugging was 13-year-old Hal Beaulieu's crime when he sat next to his girlfriend at lunch a few months ago and put his arm around her shoulder. He was let off with a warning, but the cost of a repeat offense could be detention.

A rule against physical contact at Kilmer Middle School, about 10 miles west of Washington, is so strict that students can be sent to the principal's office for hugging, holding hands or even high-fiving.

"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."

Unlike some schools, which ban fighting or inappropriate touching, Kilmer Middle School bans all touching.

But that doesn't seem necessary to Hal and his parents. They've sent a letter asking the county school board to review the rule.

But at a school of 1,100 students that was meant to accommodate 850, school officials think touching can turn into a big deal. They've seen pokes lead to fights, gang signs in the form of handshakes and girls who are uncomfortable being hugged but embarrassed to say anything.

"You get into shades of gray," Kilmer Principal Deborah Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "

Hernandez said the no-touching rule is meant to ensure that students are comfortable and that crowded hallways and lunchrooms stay safe. She said school officials are allowed to use their judgment in enforcing the rule. Typically, only repeat offenders are reprimanded.
Novell

Submission + - Moonlight - OS implementation of Silverlight (com.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Mono Project has created an implementation of Silverlight which runs on Linux thus allowing Linux users to view new Silverlight content. The project, known as Moonlight, is still in the early development stages, with only 21 days of development completed, yet it is still able to display non-trivial Silverlight applications. A public release is likely to be ready before the end of the summer.
Programming

Submission + - Best practices to avoid Ajax security threats

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This article, provided an overview of different ways in which Web 2.0 applications avoid the same-origin policy. It also demonstrated how this opens up some new attack vectors to Web applications. It discusses some common types of attacks and the results that attackers can obtain. Finally, it concluded with a best practices section, which you can use to avoid some of the most common Ajax application attacks.
Censorship

Submission + - Illegal Monitoring at School

Submitted by
WyllDez
WyllDez writes: "I had an incident today an a high school in Toronto (Northern Secondary School), and I am unsure how to act. The computers in our library are monitored using Net Support School (http://www.netsupportschool.com/ ). I was completely unaware until our librarian came up to me, showed me a print out of my browsing history, programs I ran, and all of my key strokes, including my passwords to several websites. I have talked to quite a few students at our school, and all of them where unaware that they have been monitored. I looked throughout the library, and there are no signs anywhere mentioning that they are being monitored. In our usage agreement, it said that we would be monitored at the board level, and only browsing history would be monitored through the board proxies. It should also be noted that all of the key logs are available to anyone who finds the folder! What can we do about this?"

Slashdot Top Deals

"You don't go out and kick a mad dog. If you have a mad dog with rabies, you take a gun and shoot him." -- Pat Robertson, TV Evangelist, about Muammar Kadhafy

Close